Thursday, February 27, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Music: X-Men

'Grunge inventor' King's X keeps the crown

By Newt Briggs

Think you got problems? Try being a gay, black atheist in a predominately white, Christian metal band from Texas. Now that's a problem. And it's one that King's X lead singer/bassist Doug Pinnick had to live with for nearly a decade.

But first a bit of history. Frequently touted as the next great arena rock act, King's X was perhaps the most critically acclaimed yet publicly overlooked rock band of the 1990s. Blending an unusual combination of funk, soul, harmonic pop and metal, the spiritually inclined band influenced everyone from Pantera to Alice in Chains to Pearl Jam (Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament once said, "King's X invented grunge").

Unfortunately--perhaps because of its unique sonic flavor and the band members' religious leanings--King's X never achieved the widespread celebrity of its peers. The band did manage to release six albums during the '90s, though, and to win over a fanatical niche of supporters who faithfully followed the Lone Star trio wherever they would venture. That is, until Pinnick came out of the closet during an interview with Contemporary Christian Music Magazine in 1998.

While the revelation didn't come as any big surprise to Pinnick's bandmates, who had known of Pinnick's sexual preference all along, it did cause quite a public stir (what Pinnick later called "a big mess"). Almost immediately, King's X online message boards lit up with controversy, and Pinnick began receiving bags of hate mail. What's more, Christian book sellers--who had only recently begun stocking King's X merchandise--pulled all the band's music off their shelves and declared a permanent moratorium on any Pinnick-related releases.

From there, it was only a matter of time before Pinnick rejected his faith altogether, saying he was fed up with being judged by small-minded Christians. Needless to say, it was a huge leap for the man who had previously started his own church (the Shiloh Foundation) and who had once lived in a Christian community in Florida, handing out pamphlets by day and staging poorly attended, religious pop concerts by night. Nevertheless, it proved to be a necessary change as Pinnick had become an increasingly depressed victim of his often self-loathing. Often referring to himself as a "homophobe," he even entertained thoughts of suicide.

But the rest of the band stuck behind him, and in 2001 King's X released its ninth studio album Manic Moonlight. A funked-up departure from 2000's Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous, Moonlight benefited from several major changes in and around the group (not the least of which was the band's switch from Atlantic to Metal Blade Records). Guitarist Ty Tabor also brought a renewed energy to the project after completing his own solo project. But most of all the change was in the 51-year-old Pinnick himself, whose liberated lifestyle comes through in the album's simple, soulful grooves. One need listen no further than the opening track, "Believe," to hear that a tremendous burden has been lifted from Pinnick's shoulders.

And Pinnick is the first to admit the change for the better. Asked recently if he felt any spiritual emptiness after forsaking his faith, he responded that his belief had been a prison and that now he felt freer than any time in his life. Maybe he's right. And maybe being a gay, black atheist in a predominately white, Christian metal band from Texas isn't that bad after all.